The editorial staff recently opined against Senate Bill 2187, legislation pending in Springfield that would give prescriptive authority for psychotropic medications to licensed clinical psychologists with advanced, specialized training. The writers just didn’t get their facts straight.

The editors’ argument is that prescribing psychologists do not have medical training and cannot prescribe safely. This argument ignores three important points:

Prescribing psychologists have medical training. Their master’s and doctoral training in psychology and their training for a master’s degree in clinical psychopharmacology take place in medical settings. Today, all treating psychologists need a working knowledge of medication effects to treat their patients, many of whom are taking medications that affect their psychological functioning.

The idea that psychologists do not understand the medical underpinnings of mental health is outdated.

The additional training that SB2187 requires is similar to the training advanced-practice nurses receive and ensures that prescribing psychologists are fully trained to understand all human body systems as well as the therapeutic effects and the side effects of all of the medications that are prescribed, specifically, to treat patients with mental illness.

Second, prescribing psychologists have been prescribing safely for 20 years in the military, the public health service, and in New Mexico and Louisiana, where they have written more than 400,000 prescriptions without harming patients. Physicians who work with prescribing psychologists attest to the high-quality, safe work they do.

Third, the organizations in Illinois that are experiencing the shortage of mental health prescribers disagree with the editorial staff’s assessment and have signed on in support of SB2187.

Law enforcement, public health, community mental health, emergency room staffs and many other organizations understand the tremendous need for, and the safety of, this legislation. Policymakers and the public should as well.

Dr. Marlin Hoover is an Illinois licensed clinical psychologist and a New Mexico licensed prescribing psychologist.